Wichita eagle., 1887-10-11
RAILWAY FACTS.
From the advance sheets Of Poor

From the advance sheets Of Poor's Manuel
Of Railroads for 1887, the statistics Of cost
of construction, extent, earnings, indebted.
ness Of ali the railroads In the United States
have already been given. In the volume
which has Just been received, says the Bos-
ton Herald, and which gives the particulars
of every railroad corporation In the country.
can be found interesting facts sufficient to
make score Of editorial articles. One of
the facts which will attract the attention Of
one who turns over the one thousand pages
of this wonderful result of labor Is the
growth Of the railroad system as q measure
of the development Of the country. In
1880 there was but % miles of railroad
In operation. while Its population
was 12,S66,O20 Ten years later
the number Of miles of rail
road was ISIS In 1850 the mileage had
increased to 9,021, the number Of miles
built during the year 1886. When the
census Of 1860 was taken. the country had
80 635 miles; In 1870 So. 914; In 1880 o.
$40 miles, and In 1885, 1915 miles.
With the Introduction Of railroads, there
fore, the development of the country
really began, and the vast territory of the
west became an empire.
Sometimes railroad building has exceeded
the capacity of the country to support
lines, but 1t will he noticed that 1t REQUIRES
but few years to populate the the coun.
try through which lines run so as to make
them profitable. So sure an indication is
railroad construction of the growth of
country that one Is sure that
the state where the largest mileage
is constructed In any given year Is receiv-
ing the largest accessions of population and
wealth. During the last year the state of
Kansas led every other In railroad con-
struction. Its increased milesge for the year
being 1878. If we had no other data we
should know that Its increase In population
during the past few years has been larger
than that Of any other state, aggregating
since 1880 over 20 per cent Dakota terri
tory was next to Kansas In 1886, with S21
miles, which does not, however, seem to be
an argument Of such potency as to
convince congress that Its half mil
lion population Is entitled to
be admitted TO the union es
sovereign state. Nebraska Is
third on the list, with 628 miles. and Tex
as is sharp competitor with COZ miles.
While we hear much about the extortion
Of railroad monopolies. 1t is worth while
to note the cost of their service IL continu-
ally falling throughout the country. The
earnings of all the railroads during the
year 1886 fox passengers was 1S1 cents
mile against 5l4 cents mile in 1882.
while The earnings per mile per ton on
freight were 1042 cents In 1886 against
1886 In 1882 The net traffic earnings
per mile in 1856 were Q $40 against 1870
cents In 1882. These re
ductions have been made after It was
believed thst the rates Of transportation
had been reduced TO the lowest figure posi-.
bic 20 make the railroads valuable prop
erty. The running expenses Of railroads
are b.lng reduced slowly each year, which
affords reason TO expect that the cost OF
transportation may be made still lower.
The revenues of railroads are yet largely
derived from freight earnings During the
last year &C 81 per cent OF the total earn
ings were derived from freiehis. 25, y per
cent. from passengers, and 7.29 per cant.
from other sources.